At least 22 900 households in Mzimba District are set to receive relief cash and relief food from this month to February next year.
Briefing stakeholders in Mzimba on Friday, Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) chief disaster response officer Madalitso Mwale said the beneficiaries, who are on Social Cash Transfer Programme, will receive K70 000 every month while others will receive bags of maize.
“This response follows the 2024 Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee report, which indicates that 153 000 people are food-insecure in Mzimba,” he said.
However, M’Mbelwa District Council chairperson Morgan Tembo said the number of beneficiaries is too small.
“I ask Dodma to consider adding the number of beneficiaries because many people were affected by droughts,” he said.
In his response, Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare deputy director of social welfare responsible for social cash transfer Laurent Kansinjiro said the initiative was mainly targeting beneficiaries who are already on Social Cash Transfer Programme and others deemed vulnerable and needy.
“We are just topping up on the cash that beneficiaries under the programme receive to recover from hunger during the lean period,” he said.
Earlier this year, about 34 000 food-insecure households in the district also received relief maize that Dodma distributed with support from the World Food Programme.
The group later also received K150 000 each as part of fovernment’s response in the district with support from the European Union (EU).
The EU is supporting response through the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare
